The world had lost an opportunity to know long-term toxic effects of Methyl Isocyanate which had leaked from the Union Carbide factory on the night of December 2, 1984, because government research agencies have lost track of a bulk of survivors, says Dinesh C Sharma.
'We are blessed, that in this age of crass, commercial filmmaking, there is a special corner reserved for Wes Anderson to inhabit this wonderful, magical life. And we thank him from the bottom of our hearts for letting us experience his dreams in full colour and grandeur,' says Aseem Chhabra after watching The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Abusers on social media will be rewarded if you just got intimidated or even minimally distracted. If you don't let the noise make you do either, you are winning, without even fighting the battle, says Shekhar Gupta.
'I kept telling myself I'd quit after every film. I saw myself in my first Hindi film Kashmir Ki Kali and I didn't like myself. I said, one more film and I'm done. But it continued.' Sharmila Tagore gets candid on her 70th birthday.
Director Shanker Raman, with an appetite for noir and a natural temperament for fast-cutting, takes you so swiftly and so deeply inside Gurgaon's anomie that you may mistake his vision of the city for some dystopian view of the future, feels Sreehari Nair.
'The cadres who die for the party are from the backward and scheduled caste communities while the leaders and those who enjoy power are from the forward community.' 'When this is the reality, who will stay with them?'
However, Rahul is clearly behind Modi in the race for the aam aadmi. Anita Katyal reports.
'Smita had it all planned out. She was pregnant then and planning to leave Raj Babbar after the baby was born. In an enthralling new book Smita Patil, A Brief Incandescence (HarperCollins), Maithili Rao reveals the many fascinating facets of the incomparable actress whom we lost too young.
'Today it is a studio being held to ransom, tomorrow it will be a government, an entire nation. I don't see anyone laughing when that happens,' says Suparn Verma.
'In today's time, everyone is distressed and we don't know with what mood a person will come to watch a movie.' 'So it is better to say whatever you want with humour.'
'We have to work for our victories.' 'We have to offer a better alternative governance model.' 'Not just criticise the current government.' 'You have to build bridges, learn from what has gone wrong and create a party for all people.'
And then came the chief moment of Friday. If the courtroom had a soundtrack, Beethoven's 9th would be playing, providing a triumphant, dramatic prologue to the production of this last clip. A woman reporter was asking Mekhail about Sanjeev Khanna. He says clearly, without mincing words, emphatically: 'Never seen him. First time I am hearing his name.'
Two people can be reasonably happy if they tried sincerely, says Love Guru.
Twenty-eight years ago almost to the day, 37 unarmed Muslims were killed in cold blood, an act of wanton violence for which no one has so far been held guilty. Jyoti Punwani and photographer Uttam Ghosh visited the Meerut locality after the trial court recently acquitted the security personnel charged with the killings, and found a town untouched by its grim past.
'He cooked chicken curry and so because of him, curries entered the British royal kitchens.' 'Eventually, he became a political advisor to the queen.' 'This guy was disrupting the royal household. It sent shockwaves...' Ali Fazal on his character Abdul Karim and working with acting legend Judi Dench.
'If you invest your entire capital in talks, you cannot abruptly change gear and decide on war.'
'I rejoice in the fact that Justice Iyer has left a legacy, after all, legacies no not reside in brick and mortar, but in living humans and there are many of us who have followed in his footsteps and continue to do so.' Former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising salutes the legendary Justice V R Krishna Iyer who passed into the ages last week, the judge who restored her faith in the Supreme Court of India.
Aseem Chhabra picks his favourite movies from the Telluride Film Festival.
'You will have good days and you will have hard days.' 'Go through all of them together.' 'Seek shared experiences with all kinds of people.' 'Build shared hope in the communities you join and the communities you form.' 'And above all, find gratitude for the gift of life itself and the opportunities it provides for meaning, for joy, and for love.'
'I do not think Rajiv Gandhi at that stage had any influence on his mother. Indira Gandhi relied totally on Sanjay and she looked upon him as a dependable son.' 'What really affected people and eventually Indira Gandhi was the sterilisation drive. She lost so badly in north India because of these drives.' 'She is the one who has given this aura of 'the family' to the Gandhis.' The second and final part of veteran journalist Coomi Kapoor, whose book The Emergency: A Personal Account was published recently, to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com about Independent India's darkest phase.
Youngistaan neither says something new nor does it reinforce time-tested wisdom in a way that you actually want to pay attention to it, feels Paloma Sharma.
'The Army must always be balanced in response.' 'Rabble rousers will demand that it be given a free hand against anti-national elements in the streets. That is exactly what the adversaries want.' 'Burning the Kashmir Valley through the summer is their desire; the Army will never contribute to enhancing their aim,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), who served as the General Officer Commanding 15 Corps in Kashmir.
As the legendary actor turns 60 today, we look at his finest performances in the last six decades.
Aseem Chhabra spots 10 must-see movies at the Berlin Film Festival.
The jury of the 58th annual World Press Photo Contest has selected an image by Danish photographer Mads Nissen as the World Press Photo of the Year 2014.
Hemal Trivedi, a Hindu filmmaker originally from India, and Mohammed Ali Naqvi, a Muslim from Pakistan have made one of this year's most talked about films.
Fish-lover Rajesh Karkera revisits Taraporevala Aquarium V.20 after decades and comes back with mixed feelings. Is this the new-look one the city was promised?
65,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees still live in Tamil Nadu. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar discovers the challenges for the refugees to return home.
'I can tell you the case that hurts me the most is the one in which the little boy is forced to sign the Kohinoor over.' 'You take a mother away from a child, you surround him with grown ups speaking a different language, you tell him he must sign this over or else...'
Veteran actress, television personality and anchor, Tabassum, who has completed 67 years in the industry, shares her insights about the stars of the past.
'I like to see myself as a troll-slayer and I have realised the best way to do that is to ignore them. Nothing bothers them more,' Barkha Dutt tells Rashme Sehgal.
Kalki Koechlin talks about her upcoming projects, marriage and much more!
In an online chat with readers, chef Sanjeev Kapoor shares interesting anecdotes from his culinary journey.
'We saw how vigorous democracy was when it dislodged authoritarianism under Indira Gandhi. We saw its vigour again when it voted Mr Modi out of humble origins as prime minister. It was Nehru who laid that foundation for India and what is worrying today is Modi's rather imperial style of functioning,' says writer Nayantara Sahgal.
'This term -- "Nehru-Gandhi" family -- is a misnomer. Nehru was not a dynast; he did not even name his successor... The big mistake she made was to push forward Rahul Gandhi who is a dead loss as a leader,' says Nayantara Sahgal, whom Sonia Gandhi calls 'Tara Masi.'
'The starting point of the Udta Punjab casting was that we didn't think stars would do a film like this, so we'd take non-stars. As the names kept rolling in and we had Kareena Kapoor and Shahid and Alia Bhatt, I was like yaar yeh ho kya raha hai?'
Narendra Modi's mother washed utensils to make a living. Madhusudan Mistry's grandmother, who brought him up, was a vegetable vendor. Mistry's trajectory from poverty to membership of the all powerful Congress Working Committee is moving. the man who has Rahul Gandhi's ear and is all set to take on Narendra Modi in Vadodara, speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt in a fascinating interview.
